> "Dauðan segir þú mér Þorvald þá," segir hún.
> "You are saying to me that Thorvald is dead " says she
'þá' "then", I think = "in that case, judging by what you've just said".
MM & HP: "Then you must mean that Th. is dead."
(No harm in stating the obvious, I suppose...)
> og sjá þú nú nokkurt ráð fyrir mér
MM & HP "and now you must think up some plan for me" ('sjá' is
imperative).
> á Svanshól
"Svan's Hill" (not hall). I think the preposition 'á' is part of the
placename. In English we might reverse the order, MM & HP: "To
Svanhill in Bjarnarfjord". I'm sure there's something about this in
Faarlund's Syntax of Old Norse, but I can't seem to find the page
right now.
> Bjarnar Fjarðar (Bears Fjorðs)
Genitive singular (after the preposition 'til'), "to Barnarfjord",
Björn's Fjord. Both words are u-stems like 'skjöldr'. Gen.pl. would
be '-fjarða'.
> En Þjóstólfur segir honum víg Þorvalds með þeim atburðum er orðið höfðu.
> said to him of the events of Thorvalds death and how they came about
More literally, "...tells him of the killing of Th. and those events
that had happened". But that does sound a bit awkward in English, so
you're probably right to paraphrase. MM & HP: "...and everything that
had happened."
> steig á bak
> mounted it
That's right, he mounted his horse.
> Slíkt kalla eg menn er eigi láta sér allt í augu vaxa að gera
MM & HP: "'Now that's what I call a man,' said Svan, 'someone who lets
nothing stand in his way." (More literally, that's what I
call/consider "men", pl.) Remember Ch. 7, Seg þú mér nú allt það er á
meðal ykkar er og lát þér ekki í augu vaxa. "...and let nothing deter
you." By the way, I like Cleasby & Vigfússon's helpful definition in
the entry for 'vaxa', "a saying". I think the idea is that if you're
worried about something, you allow it to grow bigger (and more
daunting) in your metaphorical sight.
If I understand the syntax right (and no guarrentee of that!),
'allt...að gera' is all the subject of 'vaxa'. 'sér' is dative,
refering to the owners of the eyes (or the people who would be
affected by something growing big in them) = the sort of people he
considers real men.
> ef þeir sækja þig hingað að þeir skulu fá af því hina mestu svívirðing
> and I promise you if they follow you hither they will be disgraced
Literally "they will get the greatest disgrace/ignominy". MM & HP,
paraphrasing: "if they try to reach you here, they will get nothing
for their pains but ignominy." Their "for their pains" translates 'af
því', literally "from that" (their attempt).
> Nú er þar til máls að taka er Hallgerður er
> Now it is the story turns to Hallgerð
Yes, good paraphrase. Now its time to talk about what Hallgerd was
doing; now the scene shifts to where Hallgerd is, etc. Or as MM & HP
do, simply: "meanwhile Hallgerd told Ljot the Black..." Interesting
to see that you've translated this ON idiom with another. Remember
Ch. 1, Nú víkur sögunni vestur til Breiðafjarðardala?
> því að hann hafði eigi spurt tíðindin.
> but he had not heard the news
"BECAUSE he had not heard the news" (!)
> Þjóstólfur mun því valda.
> Thjostolf may have done it
I think this expresses a rather stronger suspicion, more like: "I
expect Th. is responsible for that", "I guess Th. is to blame for
that", "That'll be Th.'s doing then, I suppose".
MM & HP: "Th. must be responsible for that."
_____________________________________________________________
> Það mun mér síst í tauma ganga er Hrútur segir mér að hér mundi til
mikillar ógiftu draga um kaup þessi en ekki mun týja að saka sig um
orðinn hlut
MM & HP paraphrase: "I can always rely on Hrut's predictions. He told
me that this marriage deal would bring terrible ill luck. But there
is no point in blaming oneself after the event."
The school's edition notes elabourate on the idioms:
Í TAUMA GANGA: (hér) bregðast, skjöplast. Talshátturinn lýtur að
því þegar hestur gengur í tauminn og flækist í honum. (here = to
fail. The expression refers to [the idea of] a horse treading on its
reins and getting tangled up in them.)
See also the Concordance of Proverbs [
http://www.usask.ca/english/icelanders/proverbs_BNS.html ].
TÝJA: tjóa, gagna, stoða. (to avail, to do any good, to be of any use.)
Putting that all together,
> Það mun mér síst í tauma ganga er Hrútur segir mér'
Lit. "That will to-me last (least likely of all possibilities) fail,
what H. tells me."
In other words: "What H. tells me never fails"
> að hér mundi til mikillar ógiftu draga um kaup þessi
Lit. "that here it would draw to great misfortune regarding this
marriage arrangement"
In other words: "that great misfortune would come of this marriage
arrangement"
> en ekki mun týja að saka sig um orðinn hlut
Lit. "but it won't do any good to blame oneself over a happened thing"
In other words: "...a thing that has already happened"
__________________________________________________________
> Nú er þar til máls að taka er förunautar Þorvalds eru að þeir biðu
til þess er skip komu að landi. Þeir sögðu víg Þorvalds og báðu sér
skips inn til lands. Þeim var léð þegar. Og reru þeir inn að
Reykjanesi og fundu Ósvíf og sögðu honum tíðindin.
Schools edition, AÐ LANDI: þ.e. til eyjarinnar, frá róðri. (i.e. to
the island from fishing.)
REYKJANES: sagan gefur enga skýringu á því að fylgdarmenn Þorvalds
skuli fara til Reykjaness og hitta Ósvífur þar. Hugsanlega hefur Ó.
flust frá Felli eftir að Þ. festi ráð sitt.
"the saga gives no explanation as to why Th.'s men should go to
Reykjanes and meet O. there. Possibly O. moved from Fell after Th.
got married."
ILLA GEFAST ILLS RÁÐS LEIFAR: málsháttur þessi er vanalega: "Illa
gefast ill ráð" (sbr. 91, Harðar sögu og Hólmverja 1290 og Vatnsdæla
sögu 1845). LEIFAR: (hér) það sem eftir lifir af ráðunum, afleiðingar.
"this saying is common: badly turn out bad plans/councels [...] LEIFAR
here is that which remains after the plans, the consequences"
So the expression as it appears in Njáls saga: "The consequences of a
bad plan turn out badly.
And see the Concordance of Proverbs [
http://www.usask.ca/english/icelanders/proverbs_BNS.html ].
> Og sé eg nú allt eftir hversu farið hefir
> and I see how it all has gone (?)
Yes, MM & HP elabourate: "And I can see what must have happened after
the killing."
> Skulum vér nú safna liði
> Shall we get together
"Let's get together a force of men".
> og sækja hann norður þangað
> and follow him north and seek him at once
"and go north THERE after him"
(I guess you were thinking of 'þegar'?)
> og þaðan um hálsinn til Bjarnarfjarðar
"and from there (thence) over the ridge to Bjarnarfjord"
> I am wondering of this were always the custom - when you wanted
after someone - you got the neighbours to help - like a Neighbourhood
Watch Scheme - well it seems to work that way
Yeah, like Neighbourhood Watch, but with extra powers, and weapons...